“That doesn’t even make any sense,” I mutter with a snort. Apparently, I said it too loud because it draws both of their attention. I pull my lip in and reach up, tucking my hair around the point of my ear.
“Tell me you’ll miss me while you are gone,” she says as she turns her attention back to him.
“If that is what you want to hear,” he says with a little smirk as he extradites his arm from her grasp. He flicks her nose. “You’re such a silly girl, Gerda, how could I not miss you? It would be like missing my own shadow.”
“Except your shadow doesn’t worship the ground you walk on.” I bite on my tongue as they both turn to me again. “Sorry, proceed.”
Byron arches his brow. “Would you two like to go on ahead?”
“Oh, yes,” Marvin exhales loudly, relief evident in his tone. “Come on, Willow.”
I don’t have to be told twice, especially with the way that Gertrude is currently gazing at the lower half of Byron’s face. Knowing her and her womanly wiles, she won’t be leaving without a goodbye kiss. And I for one don’t intend to have to witness that.
I pick up the pace, hurrying up the slight incline of the dirt road that leads past the borders of our town and into the great unknown of the wide world. A land of cities and criminals where the humans are far more hardened than the good people of Woodsbury, a place where the wild fae live and monsters dwell. Out there are places so dangerous that humans haven’t yet settled there.
And then there is Skyshire, the land of most fae. Floating cities that hang suspended above our own world.
Although, since I’m a fae I suppose that Skyshire is technicallymyworld. I just somehow wound up in Commonweald. I’m certainly not the first fae to do so, just as there have been humans to settle in Skyshire. But still I wonder what my life would have been like if I had been raised in a city in the sky instead of a small human village in the middle of nowhere, where the only thing we have to boast in is a boy named Byron Coalbiter, a drunkard’s son who was born with slightly impressive magic.
I may miss the slow life of a farming village, but I also know that I was made for so much more, my soul longs for adventure… and a little glory as well.
I inhale a deep breath, taking in the crisp morning air. Nearby I can hear a bird singing, until the sound is drowned out by pounding feet as Byron jogs up to us, a ridiculous grin on his face. “All right, I’m ready to be off. How about you?”
“Will you survive without your arm warmer?” I ask in a falsely sympathetic tone.
He waves away my words. “I’m sure I’ll find many a lady to keep my arm warm at the academy. Until then… I suppose you could substitute. What do you say, Lo? My arm is getting a bit chilled already—”
I shove him before he can finish his sentence and stalk off, up the road.
Behind me, I hear his laughter and shake my head. This is going to be a long journey…
Chapter Four
Noonehasanyright being this cheerful on this hot of a day, and yet Byron persists.
I glare at his back, wondering why his shirt isn’t soaked through with sweat before I reach up and wipe a bead of sweat off my own forehead. Marvin, I think, is going to die. However, either he has more pride than I gave him credit for, or he’s worried that if he tries to talk, he will only speed up the dying process because he doesn’t ask for a break.
Instead, he steadily plods along several paces behind me, his face redder than his hair, huffing and puffing the whole way.
If it weren’t for my own pride, I’d ask Byron to stop for his sake. But knowing Byron, he won’t believe me if I say it’s for Marvin. He’ll just take it as a sign of my weakness, and I’ve already determined to never appear weak in front of Byron Coalbiter. He has enough of a superiority complex as is without me adding to it.
Byron meanwhile is hiking far ahead of us, whistling like a songbird. If I thought Marvin would go through with it, I’d suggest we just let him wander ahead and we go find a different way to the Gilded Academy. After all, I’m sure that there are other roads that cut through this forest.
I’d take a deer path over Byron’s company any day.
“Keep up, you two! I’d like to reach the Gilded Academy sometime this century,” he calls over his shoulder, not even bothering to look back and ascertain that Marvin hasn’t keeled over.
Byron skips on top of a large, flat rock, whistling the whole way. I eye the back of his shoulders, considering lobbing a rock at them and then pretending that some forest gremlin hopped out and did it. Perhaps Marvin is so preoccupied by breathing that he won’t even notice that I was the one who threw it. He’s a notorious do-gooder though and if he catches it he will tell Byron for sure.
He would snitch on his own grandmother if he knew she was telling a lie.
However, before I can make up my mind on whether I’m annoyed enough to actually resort to rock lobbing, Byron stops mid-tune. Those shoulders I was considering as a target stiffen. He stands there for a second before leaping off the rock and rushing forward, a sense of urgency in his steps that hadn’t been there before.
I feel my heart begin pounding hard in my chest as I push myself to start running despite the fact that the heat and humidity feel so thick that it’s almost like I’m having to swim through the air. Air clogs in my throat, but I force my feet to beat against the trampled earthen road that we’ve been following through this everglade forest.
As I race up the path Byron comes into view again. He’s kneeling over something. Light glints off a metallic object and my foot twists as I realize that it’s actually armor. Byron tilts his head to look at me, his hair falling down over his shoulder, blocking the face of the person from my view. His brows are drawn together in consternation as I stumble to a stop.
“Willow, quick, I need your hands.”
